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UEFA Champions League Final 2015: Preview

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Berlin will be the central focus of the globe when Juventus meet Barcelona to determine club football supremacy in the UEFA Champions League Final in what could be a battle of the ages. Our very own Spanish football expert AdamHOwl breaks it all down from stats to predicted lineups, all the tactics, betting tips and much more.This is a very special Champions League final with a side that are used to being in one against one that hasn't been in once since 2003 and it's also a unique final with the winner recording a treble by winning their domestic league, domestic cup and of course the UEFA Champions League.We'll start with the Italian side of things by looking at Juventus a side that weren't expected to reach the latter stages of this competition let alone the final but under Allegri's stewardship have reached their first Champions League final since 2003.Juventus won their domestic league with a tally of 87 points with 26 wins, nine draws and three defeats and their away record saw them record a tally of 36 points with ten wins, six draws and three defeats.They conceded 24 goals overall and 13 goals on their travels which gave them best overall defensive record in Serie A this season and the best defensive record on their travels in Serie A this season too but their goals tally away from home wasn't at the top.Their 27 goals scored on their travels was the fourth best attack in Serie A and their overall goal tally of 72 goals was the best in Serie A this season but 45 goals scored at home certainly helped them gain the best overall attack in Serie A this season because their away attacking record wasn't the greatest.

Image: Panorama.it

They ended their domestic season unbeaten in six games drawing two and winning four scoring in six of those six games and conceding five of those six too scoring twelve goals and conceding seven goals in those six games.They won their domestic cup by beating Lazio 2-1 after extra time and their last six away games in Serie A this season saw them record three wins, one draw and two defeats scoring in five of those six and conceding in four of those six.Juventus scored just thirteen goals in their last ten away games of the Serie A season and conceded seven of those ten and in Serie A this season they kept nine clean sheets on their travels from their nineteen away games.Their away record in the Champions League this season reads two defeats, two wins and two draws and they scored in three of those and conceded in three of those six, they scored just six goals in their six away games in the Champions League this season and conceded just three keeping a clean sheet in three of those six away games.Their top scorer is Carlos Tevez with 20 goals and the guys behind him are Morata and Llorente who have seven and eight goals respectively which is nowhere near good enough for a striker and to rely on one striker for goals is quite poor.Vidal has seven and Pogba has eight which shows that their midfield can add goals to their team too but to have one striker on 20 goals and the rest of your strikeforce not even in double figures is extremely poor in my opinion.Juventus's top scorer in the Champions League this season is obviously Carlos Tevez and he has scored with three goals with Morata behind him with two and Llorente and Vidal behind both of them with just one.

Image: UCLVideos.com

Juventus's road to Berlin started by qualifying from a group that contained Atleti, Olympiakos and Malmo and they finished second in the group and a defeat at the Calderon against Atleti was the difference between the two sides in deciding who won the group in the end.They then faced in the last 16 German side Borussia Dortmund who they beat 2-1 in the first leg in Turin and then dismantled 3-0 away in the German city of Dortmund with their counter attacking ability.The draw turned kind for them when we reached the Quarter-Finals as they faced a very weak side in French club Monaco and a 0-0 draw away in the first leg saw them head back to Turin in a very strong position and Vidal's second half goal saw them progress thanks to a 1-0 home success.The Semi-final draw had Barca, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid the holders of the competition in it and Juventus knew that whoever they would face that the draw wasn't going to be kind to them and it gave them the worst possible draw.They faced the holders Real Madrid and they went into the tie massive underdogs, written off by many including by myself I'll be honest and they went straight for the throat of the holders in the first leg in Turin which was a risky but bold approach.It soon paid off when Morata's eight minute goal fired them into an early lead but conceding the away goal with a visit to the Bernabeu a week later spelled real real trouble and especially when it came with just 27 minutes on the clock because Real Madrid were back in the game and Juventus were going to attack as they knew that a lead to take to the Bernabeu was a must if they had any chance of reaching Berlin.

Image: Sergio Perez / Reuters

Sloppy defending and a clumsy mistake by Marcelo inside the area to bring down a man in black and white when Real were caught exposed on the counter gave Tevez the chance to restore Juve's lead and he did that firing past Casillas superbly.Real Madrid never performed on the night and Juventus missed a superb chance in stoppage time to take a two goal lead to the Bernabeu and many including Juventus feared and expected that to quite possibly come back to haunt them in the second leg.They travelled to the Spanish Capital though knowing that an away goal was a must because Real Madrid are always always going to score at the Bernabeu at least once especially on a big European night with the Madristas right behind them.Real Madrid started the game well putting Juventus under pressure and right from the start you could see the high tempo, the high intensity from the men in white and that Real Madrid goal was coming you just waited and waited and in the 21st minute you saw it arrive when Real Madrid won a penalty after clumsy defending by Juve and Ronaldo thumped the penalty past Buffon and Juve looked in real trouble.Real Madrid continued to pressurise the Juventus backline and the second goal was coming but you just hoped for Real Madrid's sake it would come before half-time so that they could avoid any complacency and to make Juventus attack much more than they were doing leaving them exposed to Real Madrid's counter attacks.It was 1-0 at half-time though and Ancelotti had the biggest team-talk of his life to save his job because he knew that exit here would cost him his job but it wasn't too difficult because he had to place a huge importance on drilling home to the players that they must keep doing what they were doing in the first half and not to get complacent.As soon as that whistle was blown to start the second half by the Swedish referee you could tell already that Real Madrid had come out complacent and you began to saw it visibly as they just sat back and sat back and continued to invite the Italians on them and you knew that away goal for Juventus was coming you just knew it.Just like Real Madrid's first goal was coming in the first half and just twelve minutes after the second half had started that away goal for the men in black and white came as Pogba's ball across the box reached Morata who thumped past Casillas and now Real Madrid needed two without conceding again.Real Madrid's defence continued to look more open and more exposed to the Juventus counter attacks as each minute passed and every time Real Madrid attacked it just looked flat, it lacked ideas, it lacked tempo and intensity and you knew the game was over as soon as Morata's strike inside the area reached the back of the net.Real Madrid should have been three of four up in the first half but failure to take their chances and their complacent second half start cost them in the end but Juventus proved that they can scrape results despite playing poorly because they weren't that great in the second leg and at times their passing was abysmal but one goal sealed it all and that is largely down to Real Madrid's complacent second half start as I say.

Image: Mirror.co.uk

Now we look at the side from La Liga Spain's top division and FC Barcelona who are in their eighth Champions League final and their first since 2011 which they won under Guardiola's management by beating English side Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley Stadium the national stadium in England.Barcelona won La Liga with a tally of 94 points with 30 wins, four draws and four defeats and their away record saw them record a tally of 45 points with 14 wins, 3 draws and two defeats.Barcelona had the second best attacking record overall in La Liga this season with 110 goals scored and their away attacking record gave them the second best attacking record on their travels in La Liga this season with 46 goals scored.Defensively Barcelona had the best overall defensive record in La Liga this season with just 21 goals conceded and their defensive record on their travels was also the best in La Liga this season with just ten goals conceded on their travels from their 19 away games this season.Barcelona ended the La Liga season unbeaten in their last fourteen games winning 12 of them and drawing two keeping clean sheets in nine of them aswell as scoring in all fourteen and conceding in just five of those fourteen.

Image: Mirror.co.uk

Away from home they ended the season unbeaten in their last ten away games winning nine of them and drawing just one keeping clean sheets in seven of them and scoring in all ten whilst conceding in just three of them.Barcelona conceded just five goals in their last ten away games in La Liga and scored 34 goals in those ten away games and in their last fourteen games of the La Liga season they scored 43 goals and conceded just seven goals in total.Barcelona won the Copa Del Rey last weekend by beating Athletic Club Bilbao 3-1 at Camp Nou to secure the double but will head to Berlin with eyes on a treble as they bid to become the first ever European club to record a treble for the second time.Barcelona's top scorer this season is none other than Lionel Messi with 43 goals in La Liga and 58 goals in all competitions this season and behind him are Suarez with 16 goals in La Liga and Neymar with 22 goals in La Liga and the next highest scorer after that in La Liga this season has been Pedro with six goals.Barcelona's away record in the Champions League this season reads four wins and two defeats from their six Champions League away games this season and those defeats came away to PSG early in the season in Paris in a 3-2 away defeat and in the second leg of a Semi-Final against Bayern in which they lost the second leg in Munich 3-2 in a tie that was already over so don't read too much into it.

Image: BallBall.com

Barcelona have scored fifteen goals in their six Champions League away games this season and conceded four of those six conceding eight goals in total and in their twelve Champions League games this season overall they have scored 28 goals, conceded ten and scored in all twelve keeping six clean sheets meaning they've kept a clean sheet and won to nil/without conceding in half of their Champions League games this season.Messi is Barcelona's top scorer in the Champions League this season with ten goals and is the overall top scorer in the competition joint with Ronaldo who has ten so a goal here will see him end as the top scorer of this season's competition.Neymar has nine in this season's Champions League and Suarez has six and behind that front three the next highest scoring Barca player in this season's competition are Sandro, Rakitic and Pique who all have one goal each.In the Copa Del Rey final against Athletic Club Bilbao last weekend Barca's front three of Messi, Suarez and Neymar reached 120 goals for the season which set a new Spanish goalscoring record which beats the previous record of 118 goals set by Real Madrid's front three in 2012 which were Ronaldo, Benzema and Higuain.This Barca front three is for me not only the best I've and we've ever seen play the game together as a front three but one that will go down in the history of FC Barcelona as the best ever attacking trio to play for the club.

Image: SoccerXPres.com

Barcelona's road to Berlin started by qualifying as group winners from a group containing PSG, APOEL Nicosia and Ajax and they qualified as a group winners despite losing 3-2 away to PSG in Paris but a 3-1 home success in their final group stage game saw them qualify as group winners.Barca then faced in the last 16 English side Manchester City and the first leg at the Etihad Stadium in the English city of Manchester and produced a performance that was one of their best of this season and a performance that we were used to seeing under Guardiola.That performance had it all, it had high tempo, it had the high intensity to Barca's game but more importantly they were controlling the game and passing the ball around with a high level of confidence and swagger.The football was its usual brilliant self and after sixteen minutes Barca got a crucial away goal as Suarez poked the ball past Hart and Barca already had one foot in the last eight and they sealed their last eight place effectively on 30 minutes when Suarez thumped the ball past Joe Hart to kill the tie and Manchester City ended the game with ten men after Clichy was sent off for a second bookable offence late on.Manchester City scored a late goal through Argentine Sergio Aguero with twenty minutes late on and had chances to equalise as Barca sat off in the second half knowing the tie was effectively over with the second leg to come at home and they saved up their energy just days before an important El Clasico that in the end proved to seal them a 23rd La Liga title.

Image: Sky Sports

They finished the tie off in the second leg by beating the English side Manchester City 1-0 but the scoreline didn't tell the whole story because if Barca wanted to win 5-0 or 6-0 they could have done because it was them against a wonderful English goalkeeper who performed ever so well on the night but again as they've done for the most of this season they saved up energy as they headed towards full time.In the Quarter-Finals they were to face the side they faced in the group stage and that was French Champions PSG and the first leg was in Paris and the 3-2 defeat was against a Barca side early into the season with Luis Enrique changing the team constantly, without Suarez and a defence that wasn't used to playing together due to Luis Enrique's constant changing of the team.But after that defeat in La Liga to Anoeta it made Luis Enrique see sense and once the constant rotation of the team stopped Barca hit top gear so this game against PSG was always going to be a different game over two legs even with PSG's absences.Barca started the game well on top with control of the game and looked assured in defence and once ten minutes had passed Barca's chances started to come and with PSG looked fragile defensively and without key players that first goal was inevitable and it took 18 minutes to come as the genius that is Lionel Messi set up Neymar to give Barca the crucial away goal and the net rippled sending the travelling Catalans into raptures.Chances continued to come for Barca but it wasn't until the 67th minute when they got that second away goal that gave them one huge foot into the semi-finals as Luis Suarez put the ball past Sirigu and just twelve minutes later Suarez pounced on Luiz's mistake at the back for PSG and produced a wonderful strike that flew into the top corner past Sirigu to effectively put Barca into the last four.

Image: The Guardian.com

PSG produced a late twist though three minutes later as the ball was diverted home via Barca defender Mathieu and now Barca began to look sloppy in their passing and fragile defensively and PSG came close to getting that second goal but in the end couldn't manage it and Barca knew that one goal in the second leg back in the Catalan Capital would end it all.That second leg came and the Camp Nou was ready to celebrate a place in the last four of Europe's biggest football competition and PSG travelled with a stronger team than the first leg with the return of their key man Ibrahimovic but after fourteen minutes the tie was ended as poor defending from the French side was yet again punished as Neymar scored.And eleven minutes before half-time Neymar got his second and PSG produced a poor performance overall on the night and Barca progressed to the Semi-Finals of the Champions League after beating the French side 5-1 on aggregate.The Semi-Final draw came and Barca were handed the toughest draw and one hell of an emotional night at Camp Nou as they were drawn against German side FC Bayern Munich in a tie that would see Pep's return to Camp Nou.Guardiola decided to start the game with a risky highline and a back three and it took him around thirty minutes to soon change his mind and alter his tactics and he was fortunate the game was 0-0 because Barca could have quite easily finished the tie before he had the chance to alter his tactics.

Image: Reuters

In effect though his changes didn't make things any better for his side as Barca were well in control throughout with Bayern offering very little threat going forward but Barca knew that a lead to take to Munich was a must if they were to reach Berlin.It may have came late but a show of magic, genius, skill and pure ability from Lionel Messi came on 77 and 80 minutes as he produced two wonderful goals to push Barca closer to that plane from El Prat Airport to Berlin and when Neymar was put clean through in stoppage time from the genius Messi the Brazilian made no mistake and Barca had reached Berlin.The second leg was a freebie for Barca but Guardiola knew that he couldn't afford to lose to Barca again and if he did and it was as comfortable as the first leg was then the critics and the knives would be out for him.Barca knew an early goal at the Allianz would see them 100% confirm their place in Berlin though and after going 1-0 down early on it took Barca eight minutes to find the net themselves and poor defending from Bayern saw Neymar on 15 minutes punish them and Barca knew they were going to be in Berlin in June.Neymar scored again to send Barca into a 2-1 lead heading into half-time but second half goals from Lewandowski and Muller gave Bayern the win on the night but Barca were in Berlin for their eighth UEFA Champions League final and first since 2011 and again saved up energy ahead of another La Liga game as they had that 23rd La Liga title in their sights.

Image: FCBarcelona.com

Facts

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon returns to the same venue nine years after lifting the World Cup with Italy after beating France in the 2006 World Cup Final

Barcelona's Lionel Messi can become the first player to score in three Champions League finals and is eyeing up more Champions League history as he aims to net in Berlin

Lionel Messi has scored in his previous two Champions League finals in 2009 and 2011 respectively and he has been on the winning side on both occasions

This is Juventus's eighth European final and their record reads won two and lost five and their record of losing five European finals is joint with Bayern and Benfica and no side has ever lost six European finals

Four of Juventus's current squad have won the Champions League before and that is Pirlo, Evra, Tevez and Morata

If Morata appears in this final for Juventus and is on the winning side he will become the fourth player to appear in a Champions League final for the second season in a row and be victorious

Gianluigi Buffon is the only player that remains at the club from their 2003 squad which reached the Champions League final

Image: LatinPost.com

This is Barcelona's eighth Champions League final and their record reads won four and lost three

Barcelona have beaten Italian opposition before in a European Cup Final by beating Milan and Sampdoria

Barcelona's current squad has eight survivors from their 2011 Champions League winning squad and they are Alves, Pique, Xavi, Iniesta, Mascherano, Busquets, Pedro, Messi

Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic was man of the match in last season's Europa League final for Sevilla and he'll be eyeing up that award again in Berlin

Juventus knocked Barcelona out in the 2003 Champions League Quarter-Final by beating them 3-2 on aggregate but Barcelona ended Juventus's defence of their European crown in the 1986 Quarter Final beating the Italians 2-1 on aggregate and also beat them in the 1991 Semi-Final with a 3-2 aggregate victory

Juventus are looking to win the UEFA Champions League for the third time and do so in the 30th anniversary of their last European final success

Juventus are unbeaten in their last nine Champions League games with five clean sheets

Juventus's record against Spanish clubs reads played 44, won 15, drawn 11 and lost 18

Juventus's penalty shootout record in a European cup final reads three wins and three defeats

Barcelona's record against Italian clubs reads played 43 won 22, drawn 13 and lost 8

Lionel Messi has scored seven goals in his last five games against an Italian side

Lionel Messi has 20 scored goals in the 23 finals he's played in for Barcelona

Barcelona's penalty shootout record in a European cup final reads won five and lost one

Pirlo and Buffon will remember Berlin with very fond memories after their 5-3 shootout success over France in the 2006 World Cup Final

Berlin is the fourth German city to host the Champions League final after Munich, Gelsenkirchen and Stuttgart which hosted the first Champions League final to be held in Germany which was won by Real Madrid who beat Stade De Reims 2-0 in 1959.

The stunning Olympiastadion will host the final.

Stats

There's been 357 goals scored in this season's Champions League with 74 of them coming in the last 15 minutes, 57 coming between 15 and 30 minutes and 60 coming between the 31st and 45th minute

Lionel Messi has produced the most assists in this Champions League with five

Luis Suarez has been ruled offside the most in this season's competition with 11 offside decisions going against him and Morata of Juventus is one behind him with 10 offside decisions going against him

Messi has the second most attempts on target in this season's competition with 23 and Carlos Tevez is behind him with 17 and Suarez is fourth in the standings with 16

Arturo Vidal of Juventus has committed the most fouls in the Champions League this season with 31 more than any other player and Alves is third in that table with 25 fouls being committed by him this season

Dani Alves with 6 yellow cards has received the most yellow cards in this season's competition

Image: Enca.com

Turkish Referee Cuneyt Cakir is the man in the middle for this year's final who will be remembered by many for the sending off of Manchester United player Nani against Real Madrid back in 2013

Cuneyt Cakir has shown 377 yellow cards, 18 red cards and 26 penalties and started refereeing UEFA Champions League matches back in 2010

This will be Xavi's 157th Champions League appearance for Barcelona if he takes part in Berlin

Eight of the last fourteen Champions League finals have been decided over 90 minutes

Just one of the last fourteen Champions League finals has been decided in extra time and that was last year's final which ended 4-1 to current holders Real Madrid

Five of the last fourteen Champions League finals have been decided via a penalty shoot-out

Both Teams have scored in eleven of the last fourteen UEFA Champions League finals

Over 2.5 Goals has paid out from a betting point of view in seven of the last fourteen UEFA Champions League finals

Under 2.5 Goals has paid out from a betting point of view in seven of the last fourteen UEFA Champions League finals

A side has kept a clean sheet in just four of the last fourteen UEFA Champions League finals

The home team for this year's final will be Juventus and the home team in a UEFA Champions League final have ended up winning the majority of the last fourteen UEFA Champions League finals

Image: ForzaItalianFootball.com

Predicted lineupsJuventus are likely to play with a 4-3-1-2 formation with a starting XI that looks like this:

Barcelona who have Iniesta as a doubt for this game are likely to play with their usual 4-3-3 formation with a starting XI that looks like this but with Rafinha or Xavi replacing Iniesta if he doesn't pass fit for Berlin:

AnalysisThis game is going to be won in the defensive areas of the field in my opinion and will be a final that sees Barcelona with the majority of the possession whilst Juventus sit back nice and compact with a well organised structure waiting for their moment to try and damage Barca on the counter-attack as they did in Dortmund and at the Bernabeu this season.Juventus have three midfielders protecting their backline with Marchisio and Pogba sitting infront of both full-backs with Pirlo sitting in the centre infront of both centre-backs Bonucci and Chiellini.Pirlo plays a key role in this because we know how Barca like to try and pick that perfect pass through the middle to one of the front three to split a defence and punish them with their clinical brilliance but if Juventus are going to stop them doing that then Pirlo is going to be the most vital part to their mission.Messi plays with a free role and Neymar mainly situates on the flanks too aswell as Messi likes to attack down the flanks too and Pogba and Marchisio's job at protecting the full backs is absolutely key to Juventus's chances in Berlin.

Image: Eurosport

If Juventus allow themselves to get stretched by the movement of the front three and Pirlo or any of that holding midfield three allow Suarez to stretch them then the trophy will slowly ebb away and slowly drift awayRakitic, Iniesta and Busquets against Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio and Pogba could see them one man light in the midfield area when Juventus are attacking but due to the fact I see Juventus as I say sitting back for the majority of this game and waiting for the counter they won't be a man light in the middle of the park for too long.Morata and Tevez will cause Barca's defence problems if they get the chances but this Barca defence is solid and broken defensive records in Spain this season and if Pogba, Marchisio and Pirlo don't get forward enough to help them then they won't have the support or service to hurt the Catalans.Juventus's central backline lacks pace and with Bonucci and Chiellini it's one of the slowest backlines I've seen in Europe in the last two seasons if not more and Pirlo is going to need the game of his life to protect the two and his legs aren't getting any younger and he lacks pace even more than the two he's meant to be protecting.Juventus's best chance of glory in Berlin is attacking down the flanks because as I've said for the majority of this season Alves and Alba Barca's full backs do like to get forward at every opportunity and at times the defence has been extremely exposed to the counter-attack but no-one has really punished them this season and it would be heartbreak if their punishment arrives in Berlin on Saturday night.This game will be won by the side that who defends the better and that may sound obvious when talking about football but when it comes to this final it's not obvious at all when you take into account all the facts.

Image: TheQuint.com

This Juventus side must remain well organised and be concentrated for the whole 90 minutes or longer if it did make it to extra time because one lack of concentration will see Barca open them up and punish them.Barca however know that they'll have the ball for the majority of the game and have it more than Juventus but it may take 30 minutes, it may take over an hour or late in the game for their best chances and possibly goals to arrive.One thing Barca must do though is remain patient because if they try and chase it and try and force it then they'll leave themselves extremely exposed to the counter-attack and with this Juventus side it could only take one goal on the counter-attack and Barca reach heartbreak in Berlin.

Image: Reuters

VerdictThis is going to be a tight Champions League final full of nerves unless you're a neutral who doesn't follow La Liga or Serie A but considering my love, my passion and strong support of La Liga you know that if it's heartbreak in Berlin for Barca I'll be absolutely gutted.I remember watching my beloved England away to Italy in March standing in that wonderful venue in Turin and I did not think that weeks later I'd watch at home on TV in England the same stadium bring me heartbreak and then the following week later Juventus the team based in that same city would put Real Madrid out.It let me feeling empty and absolutely gutted and denied us an all La Liga final in Berlin but overall you could probably argue that Real Madrid didn't deserve to go through in the end and you'd be right but I'll watch this final thinking of what could have been a great final between the two biggest clubs in the world.I've celebrated La Liga success quite often in the last few weeks with Barca doing the double and Sevilla winning the Europa League final around a week ago now and that 'Campeones' chant is getting louder and it's getting used much more and I'm extremely confident I'll be ringing that out again come full time on Saturday night in Berlin.

Image: FCBarcelona.com

Juventus have a chance let's make no mistake about it and their biggest chance of glory is hitting Barca when they are more exposed but whilst I see them remaining their usual organised and well structured selves I think they'll come out of the Olympiastadion beaten.Barca will remain patient and eventually open them up and it may take time for Barca to take the lead but take the lead they will because I just don't see an ageing Juventus defence and Pirlo who is protecting their central backline having the legs for 90 minutes to chase a Barca team round in the heat.Barca will win the UEFA Champions League in a game that will see less than three goals in my opinion and whether Luis Enrique is manager next season or not remains to be seen but he'll be having one hell of a party in Berlin come Saturday night let me tell you as La Liga dominance continues on the biggest stage of them all yet again.Betting tips

Under 2.5 Goals in the match

Both Teams To Score-NO

Barcelona to win and Both Teams To Score-NO(BET365 ONLY)

Barcelona to win by two goals/Barca -1

Barcelona to win with Under 2.5 Goals in the match(BET365 ONLY)

Barcelona to score two goals or more

Barca to win to nil/Barca to keep a clean sheet

Over 4.5 Cards in the match

Juventus Over 2.5 Cards(BET365 ONLY)

Barcelona to score a Penalty-YES

Half-Time Result to be a DRAW

Neymar to score anytime for Barcelona

We are all set. Berlin awaits, and so does the World.This may just be a UEFA Champions League final to remember.